Hays, Kansas, 3,522 students in 7 schools

Hays Unified School District 489 Snow Day Predictor

Q: How much snow does Hays get?

About 11.3 inches a winter at a NOAA weather station 1 mile away, averaged over 9 winters. Between December 1 and March 31 that brings 0.8 weekday mornings a year with 2 inches of new snow or more, and 0.6 with 4 inches or more.

Q: What was the biggest snow day near Hays?

7 inches on January 9, 2024, the largest single day at a NOAA weather station 1 mile away in 9 winters. The snowiest winter was 2018 to 2019, with 25.1 inches.

Q: Does Hays get more snow days than other Kansas districts?

Hays averages 0.6 weekday mornings a winter with 4 inches of new snow or more, more than 75 percent of the 284 Kansas districts with a station record.

Q: How does the Hays snow day predictor work?

It reads the National Weather Service forecast for Hays through the night and the 5 to 8 am bus run, adds winter alerts and the Winter Storm Severity Index, and measures the snow against Hays’s own big snow morning: 4.6 inches, the top tenth of snowy weekday mornings at a NOAA weather station 1 mile away.

The odds of a closing or a delay on the next three school mornings in Hays, measured against Hays's own big snow morning of 4.6 inches.

The next three school mornings

Will Hays close tomorrow?

Reading the National Weather Service forecast for the overnight and the bus hours in Hays.

Ten winters of school mornings

Hays’s snow record

11.3inches of snow a winter

0.8school mornings a winter with 2 in of new snow or more

0.6with 4 in or more

4.6 ina big snow morning in Hays: the top tenth of snowy school mornings

2school mornings a winter at 0 F or colder

More 4 inch school mornings than 75% of the 284 Kansas districts with a station record.

1.6Nov

1Dec

4.9Jan

1.2Feb

1.9Mar

Average snowfall by month, inches

Biggest day 7 in on January 9, 2024
Snowiest winter 2018 to 2019, 25.1 in
6 in mornings 0.2 a winter
1 in mornings 2 a winter

Measured at a NOAA weather station 1 mile away. Mornings are the 7 am snow reading on a weekday from December 1 through March 31, over the ten winters from 2016 to 2017 through 2025 to 2026, from NOAA GHCN Daily.

The Kansas rule

How Kansas counts a lost day

Kansas requires 186 school days (181 for seniors), or by board policy 1,116 school hours for grades 1 to 11 (1,086 for seniors, 465 for kindergarten). Once the board's scheduled snow make-up days are used up, extra weather closures count as school days, up to the number of make-up days scheduled or five days, whichever is smaller.

The Kansas rules in the agency’s own words, and every Kansas district

Next door

Districts near Hays

District	Snow a winter	4 in mornings
Dodge City Unified School District 443Dodge City	15.1 in	0.3
Salina Unified School District 305Salina	13.2 in	0.5
Garden City Unified School District 457Garden City	16.1 in	0.6
Newton Unified School District 373Newton	10.4 in	0.4
Maize Unified School District 266Maize	9.6 in	0.1
Goddard Unified School District 265Goddard	8.8 in	0.2

The schools

7 schools

Every school in Hays follows the district’s call: one closing covers them all.

High

Hays High

Middle

Hays Middle School

Elementary

Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy Elem
Roosevelt Elem
Woodrow Wilson Elem
Lincoln Elem

Other schools

Hays Virtual School

Questions

Hays snow day questions

How much snow does Hays get?

What was the biggest snow day near Hays?

Does Hays get more snow days than other Kansas districts?

How does the Hays snow day predictor work?

How does Kansas handle snow days?

More winter

More for Kansas snow days

Snow day predictorClosing and delay odds for any ZIP, with the snowiest districts in the country.Snow depth mapHow much snow is on the ground right now, measured, across the country.First snow datesWhen the first measurable snow usually lands where you live.Frozen pipesThe nights cold enough to freeze a pipe, and what to do before one.Snow plow trackerWhere the plows are during a storm, city by city.Kansas winter forecastThe season ahead for Kansas: snowfall, cold and the first snow.

A residential street under deep snow on a bright blue morning, cars parked along the curb buried into smooth white mounds, one set of tire tracks down the middle — The morning after a big one: cars buried to the mirrors and one set of tracks down the middle. A street like this is a closing, no debate. Photo, Fairfax, Virginia, January 2016: Jarek Tuszyński, CC BY 4.0

The odds are a forecast read, and the superintendent makes the call: the district’s own announcement is the one to follow.